What is Thumbprint Reads & Listens (TRL)?

A free community gathering over Zoom in which we dissect plays and musicals authored by and centering less celebrated voices in theatre. Through this program we choose to uplift all underrepresented groups, including but not limited to: women, the LGBTQ+ community, the Racial Global Majority (BIPOC/AAPI/SWANA), disabled folks, Neurodiverse folks, and all marginalized bodies.

For 2025, we continue to deconstruct the Western canon, offering great inclusive alternatives to the very typical white-male-centered works that dominate the theatre world’s performance seasons and higher education curriculums. As part of our programming this year, we feature works that are part of 4 distinct categories: (Un)natural Disasters; Bodies Bodies Bodies; The Immigrant Experience; and Bearing Witness.

We meet quarterly. See below for specific dates.

How does it work?

Unlike other book clubs, you do not have to read the material beforehand to participate. You may view prerecorded scenes from each play read by actors in our community. (If you are an actor and would like to be involved, add yourself to our Actor Database). This will provide a jumping off point for our night of discussion as well as some context for people who are unable to read the plays ahead of time. The Thumbprint Team will be facilitating an open conversation where we hope that people will feel confident to bring their thoughts and experiences to the discussion. Each session of TRL features special guests. Additional materials will be provided to you in our Welcome Packet to dig in further to the study of the chosen texts, if you so choose to use them.

Quarter One: (Un)natural Disasters

Date: Friday, April 25th, 2025

Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST

Quarter Two: Bodies Bodies Bodies

Date: Friday, July 11th, 2025

Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST

Quarter Three: The Immigrant Experience

Date: Friday, September 12th, 2025

Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST

Quarter Four: Bearing Witness

Date: Friday, November 21st, 2025

Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST

Looking Back…

2024 - Even More Deconstruction

Quarter One: The Spectacle of Exploitation

• Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan

• Skin Song by Katherine Gwynn

Quarter Two: White Saviorism, White Audacity

• Off-White; or the Arab House Party Play by Alyssa Haddad-Chin

• Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids by Vincent Terrell Durham

Quarter Three: Systemic Failures of the U.S.

• Blacktop Sky by Christina Anderson

• Spay by Madison Fiedler

Quarter Four: You’re on Native Land

• Quantum by Tara Moses

• Ady by Rhiana Yazzie

2023 - More Deconstruction

Quarter One: Women/Love/Revolution

• love i awethu further by a.k. payne

• Mama, I Wish I Were Silver by Amanda L. Andrei

Quarter Two: Queer Empowerment

• At the Wake of a A Dead Drag Queen by Terry Guest

• The End of Incorporated Filth by Chloé Hayat

• I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo & Juliet by Andrew Rincon

Quarter Three: Epic Journeys

• Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka

Quarter Four: The Bloody American Dream

• Layalina by Martin Yousif Zebari

• Selling Kabul by Sylvia Khoury

Watch 2023 scenes here.

2022 - Deconstruction Continues

Quarter One: Gender Diversity in STEM

• In McClintock’s Corn by Carolyn Gage

• Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven by Reina Hardy

Quarter Two: Queer Love/Experiences

• BLKS by Aziza Barnes

• Scissoring by Christina Quintana

Quarter Three: Echoes of Immigrants

• Endlings by Celine Song

• We’ve Come Undone by Kayhan Irani

Quarter Four: Disability & Neurodivergence

• Emily Driver’s Great Race Through Time & Space by A.A. Brenner and Gregg Mozgala

• Sapience by Diana Burbano

Watch 2022 scenes here.

2021 - The “Instead Of” Series

• November - American Moor by Keith Hamilton Cobb

• September - What Would Crazy Horse Do? by Larissa FastHorse

• August - House of Desires by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

• July - Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee

• June - Sankalpan by Lina Patel

• May - Playwrights’ Symposium: Theatre of the Future

• April - Bella: An American Tall Tale by Kirsten Childs

• March - Kill Move Paradise by James Ijames

• February - Mojada by Luis Alfaro

• January - The Summer in Gossensass by Maria Irene Fornes

2020 - Contemporary Works

• December - Abraham’s Daughters by Emma Goldman-Sherman

• November - Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip Hop Creation Myth by Psalmayene 24

• October - They Don’t Talk Back by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse

• September - Love Person by Aditi Brennan Kapil

• August - El Grito del Bronx by Migdalia Cruz

• July - The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin by Kirsten Childs